Contents

Career

Mart Laar was born in Viljandi. He studied history at the University of Tartu, graduating in 1983; he received his Master's degree in philosophy and his doctorate in history in 2005. Laar taught history in Tallinn, and served as president of the Council of Historians of the Foundation of the Estonia Inheritance, the Society for the Preservation of Estonian History, and the Estonian Students' Society. Laar has written many books on Estonian and Soviet history, among them War in the Woods: Estonia's Struggle for Survival, 1944–1956, a book about the Forest Brothers anti-Soviet resistance movement.

Laar's political career began when he became a member of the conservative Pro Patria Union party (which later merged with the more technocratic Res Publica Party in 2006). He was elected prime minister by the Riigikogu on 21 October 1992.

In barely two years, from 1992 to 1994, the radical reforming Estonian government of Mart Laar was the first in Europe to introduce the flat tax, privatized most national industry in transparent public tenders, abolished tariffs and subsidies, stabilized the economy, balanced the budget, and perhaps most crucially, restored the prewar kroon and pegged it to the stable deutsche mark.[6]

Due to several scandals, Laar was defeated in 1994 by no-confidence vote, when some members of the coalition withdrew their support.[8] Reasons for the vote were publicized details of arms deal with Israel and so called "Ruble scandal" - the sale of 2.3 billion Soviet rubles,[9] withdrawn from circulation during the Estonian monetary reform of 1992, to breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, carried out by Laar's associates at an Estonian private company, Maag, without consulting Parliament.[10][11][12][13]

Five years later, in 1999, Laar returned to the post, with his main policy goals being to pull the economy out of a slump and lead the country toward the European Union. He remained in the post until he stepped down in 2002.

On 18 February 2012 Mart Laar suffered from a stroke[35] and stepped down as Defence Minister three months later.[36] Until October 2012 Laar had still been staying out of the public eye, but was reportedly recovering.[37]

Relationship with the media

In 1994, the Estonian Newspaper Association declared Laar the Year's Press Friend. This was the first time this award was given; since that, it has been a yearly occurrence.[39] In 2001, Laar was given the complementary award of Year's Press Enemy.[40]

In January 2012, Laar became a meme, when in the heat of the ACTA discussion in Estonia, he explained the disappearance of ACTA-related posts from his Facebook page with "lack of space" in Facebook.[41][42][43] Later he clarified that posts were deleted by his page's moderator without his approval and that ACTA requires further discussion.[44]